While there is no evidence to support claims that groups other than Trump supporters are responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, at least three people who were at the Capitol claim members of the left wing extremist group Antifa was bused in and were the ones responsible for disrupting a peaceful rally.

That was the accepted story by patrons at the New England for Trump store at Airport Plaza Friday afternoon. Three who were willing to be interviewed, but did not want to have their names disclosed, told of what they witnessed and shared photos of President Trump speaking at the Ellipse, a park near the White House, followed by a march to the Capitol.

A mother and her son who drove to Washington for the rally described the event as very peaceful with people shouting, “We love you Trump” and holding hands and praying. She described the crowd as a mix of people, young and old, with some pushing strollers with their kids and others using walkers and canes.

She confirmed that Trump, who spoke for nearly an hour, told supporters to carry the message of “stop the steal” to the Capitol, where the results of the election and President-elect Biden’s victory were being certified. She said the mood of the crowd shifted when someone with a bullhorn started to scream that Vice President Mike Pence wouldn’t halt the certification process. She said they were “angry.”

At that point, she left the rally and returned to her hotel and then walked to the Capitol. She expected that Trump would have accompanied the crowd in a car, but she didn’t find him there. The third person interviewed for this story went to the mall. He said he saw no violence and up until that point this was a peaceful demonstration of support for the president.

“There was no fighting going on,” the woman said of the group that went to the Capitol. On arriving at the Capitol, she reported seeing a series of white vans parked alongside police cars. She and her son believe the vans had driven in members of Antifa – an anti-fascist group identified as being involved in the deadly August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a neo-Nazi drove a car into a group of counter protesters. By the time the mother and son arrived at the Capitol at about 2:45 p.m., the steps to the building were filled with people and she could see people scaling the walls and climbing the staging for the inaugural. She said police officers were present but they did not try to stop people from entering the Capitol. They followed the crowd up the stairs and were about to enter the building when the mother started coughing.

“There was an irritant in the air,” she said. She suspected it was tear gas and informed those around her. She said people on the scaffolding above her, which she assumed was part of the inaugural staging, were sliding down supports like fire poles in an effort to escape. Fearing people would panic and start to stampede, they turned around and decided to leave, but others continued to press forward into the Capitol.

“All you could hear were sirens,” she said. Her son said use of cell phones was blocked. When they returned to their hotel room and tuned into the television news, they learned of the extent of violence, loss of life and damage. She said they didn’t know of any violence while present at the Capitol and now believes what she saw on television occurred before she and other Trump supporters arrived.

Asked how they knew Antifa were part of the crowd, mother and son said that’s what they were told and that the agitators wore their red Trump caps backwards.

“We were told the Antifa were there, but we never saw them,” she said.

She couldn’t say whether members of Proud Boys were present. Proud Boys is the far-right group that on the social media platform Parler reportedly said they would turn out and infiltrate the Antifa at the Jan. 6 rally.

Mother and son said they have attended many Trump rallies and they believe Trump would not incite a riot. She called the violence and the damage to the Capitol “shocking, despicable and unacceptable.”

She said the violence, “disrupted the whole purpose of why we wanted to be heard…these people were here to protest peacefully.”

“Our rights were taken away from us. We couldn’t protest in a civil manner,” she said

Asked what she thinks will happen now, she said, “I think there’s going to be a revolution. We’re not going to give up democracy for socialism. It’s a new world order.”

As for making the trip to Washington, she said, “I’m glad I went to be a part of history. I never thought this would happen.”